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How to do the Spanish New Year Grape Tradition Properly
Let’s explore the Spanish New Year grape tradition everyone keep getting wrong! Learn the common mistakes New Year’s Eve revellers make with las doce uvas de la suerte to bring genuine luck for the year ahead. Doing it the Spanish way makes the tradition far more fun and meaningful. When you understand the cultural significance behind las doce uvas, it turns from a novelty into something genuinely special. In recent years, Brits and Americans alike celebrating New Year’s Eve have started joining in with Spain’s beloved grape tradition, but many are unknowingly missing the mark entirely. The ritual, known as “las doce uvas de la suerte” (the 12 grapes of…
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Universal Horror Unleashed Haunts Las Vegas at Area 15 Entertainment District
Story, photos and videos by Cassie Hepler (unless otherwise noted) Universal Horror Unleashed comes to haunt Las Vegas, Nevada! This first-ever, year-round horror entertainment experience by Universal Studios lives inside a huge warehouse in AREA15 Entertainment District with four terrifying haunted houses inside including my favorite Universal Monsters, Blumhouse’s The Exorcist: Believer, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Scarecrow: The Reaping. The horror extends to the bloody food and beverage offerings, with themed bars and food locations serving craft cocktails and grotesque bites in select areas, and a retail location with the most unique collectible merchandise. Actors dressed as various spooky season creatures lurk about waiting to scare you at any…
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Trippy Teatime in Wonderland Returns to Electric Playhouse in Las Vegas, Nevada
Story, photos and video by Cassie Hepler Once upon a time, there was a little girl who had “Cassie is our Alice in Wonderland” written on her report card in elementary school. That girl is now a writer and is still exploring this wonderful, strange and oftentimes trippy world. What a peculiar place to go to visit the world of Wonderland in Las Vegas, Nevada and a perfect timing to enjoy tea during Dry January. Let me tell you, Vegas is probably NOT the place to go during a dry month but like the rest of the world, they are catching up with the fact that you can still have…
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Lehigh County Humane Society Holds First Annual Garden Party at Bell Gate Farm
Keynote speaker Eve Warsinski poses with husband, daughters and Koda. Story, photos by Sharon Kozden “Our animals connect us to the sacred. What are pets, really, other than an attempt to have a little bit of a God in the house?” – Russell Brand Autumn weather in Pennsylvania felt more like spring or summer than fall. Not cool, literally. Projected temps were near 80 degrees some days. The expected crisp chill? It would be here soon enough. Despite seasonal signs of brilliant-hued mums, cider fests, all things pumpkin spice and Halloween decorations, I continue wearing open-toed sandals and tee-shirts. Consequently, my headspace can’t seem to reconcile this unseasonably warm weather…
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Philadelphia’s Nightmare Before Tinsel Halloween Pop-up Complements Day of the Dead
Nightmare Before Tinsel follows strict adherence to face-mask protocol. Meet the new abnormal normal. “Terror is a passion which always produces delight when it does not press too close.” —Edmund Burke Story, photos by Sharon Kozden “How you pull up, Baby? How you pull up?” I pull up like I am all about the total experience. No summertime shore trip happens unless I watch Jaws first. The night before touring a nuclear facility, I popped The China Syndrome into my DVD player. A medical operation on my schedule guarantees a viewing of the suspenseful Coma the evening before I’m anesthetized. I intentionally scare myself. Apparently, I’m in good company, particularly…
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Live Out Your Tiger King, Joe Exotic Costume Fantasy for Halloween with 3 Wishes
Story by Cassie Hepler, submitted photos Like it or not, Joe Exotic from Netflix‘s Tiger King is a cult sensation that began during a simpler time when the pandemic first started and we were all amazed that such a unique character existed in Florida. We know you binge watched it, don’t be shy and don’t lie! And then there was the viral sensation on TikTok with the dance about Carol Baskin “killed her husband… whacked him”… because if you don’t know, you will soon! Well this year isn’t over yet and if you need some comic relief, Halloween is certainly the time to enjoy some laughs in October (and November…
